Choices
by Assimbya
Summary: AU. Mina goes to the Count when his brides call her to join them.


They called to her, and she followed, followed them to him, to her love.

She had read about them in Jonathan's diary, these women who drank the blood of children, but somehow they didn't scare her. Professor Van Helsing told her to stay back, to stay away from them lest they hurt her somehow, but she laughed. "Why would they hurt me?" She called out, and for some reason she enjoyed the shocked look on his face.

So when they asked her, as their sister, to come and they would bring her to her love, she followed without looking back.

The light-haired one, who reminded her of Lucy, brought her there while the other two stayed behind. She didn't think at the time why they stayed behind, but later she realized that Van Helsing must be dead now, and she knew who had killed him.

Finally they reached the castle, dark and imposing, but it didn't frighten her somehow. She knew that _he _was there, waiting for her, and that comforted her. She finally allowed herself to admit that, after so many days, weeks in fact, in which she tried to deny how she had felt on that night when they exchanged blood, for it was wrong, she knew it was wrong…but she loved him somehow.

She entered the castle, and there he stood, waiting for her, as if he had been sure that she would come, when even she had not dared to believe that she would.

He extended a hand to her. "Mina, my love."

She had spoken to him so little that she had never heard him refer to her like that before. She loved the way he said her name, making it sound like a beautiful, exotic name, not the simple one of an English schoolmistress.

But she lowered her eyes discreetly as she took his hand, feeling suddenly ashamed of her bold behavior in coming here. "Count…"

He smiled at her, and she felt slightly more at ease. "You may call me Vlad, my dear."

She blushed. "Vlad…they're coming...my husband and the others…they're going to kill you."

He laughed. "Mina, do you really believe that any one of them is strong enough to kill _me? _I assure you, we will be perfectly safe." He paused. "Would you like to leave this hall and go to another one of the rooms, where you can be more comfortable? This will be your home, after all."

Mina nodded, daring a glance up at him. He smiled again, and it seemed as though he was attempting to make her feel more at ease. He led her through a doorway into another room, a library. She tried to hide her astonishment at the luxury of the room, so different from what she was used to. The chair that he gestured for her to sit down in was dark wood intricately carved in geometric patterns, with red velvet cushioning it. And the books…Jonathan had told her that the Count – no, Vlad, that was his name – had a large library, but she hadn't imagined this many books. Of course, many of them were in languages that she couldn't recognize, but many of them were also in English…

He smiled to see her looking at the books. "You may read them whenever you like. We will have much time."

She smiled back, hesitantly. "Thank you."

She could hear shouts outside, people banging on the door. She closed her eyes, trying to pretend that they're not here, that she won't have to face the shame of leaving her husband and the kind men who were aiding him and the Professor in killing Vlad. She knew that he should be killed…but she no longer knows what's right anymore.

A voice, hoarse as though from tears reached her ears, faint, but the speak is obviously shouting – Jonathan. She tried to ignore the world, but she couldn't shut them out. "Come out and show yourself, monster! We found the Professor's body, we know you've taken her by force!"

Vlad looked at her as if waiting for her reaction. She refused to meet his eyes. Sighing, he took her hand and led her back into the front hall. She whispered, her voice hardly audible. "Are you going to send me back to Jonathan?"

He paused. "Mina, do you know why you came here tonight?"

She began to say "No" but stopped herself. "Because…because we are bound by blood." She had difficulty saying the words, nearly choked on them. "Because…because I love you."

This time his smile revealed his fangs, and she shivered. "Then you will stay with me."

She nodded and turned her gaze downward again, not wanting to meet those disconcerting red eyes.

He took her hand…and opened the door that Jonathan and the others had been banging on so angrily.

Mr. Morris was there, ready with his rifle, and Lord Godalming and Dr. Seward also had small pistols. Jonathan was weaponless. Upon seeing her – Oh, God, she would never forget his expression on seeing her holding the hand of the monster who had tormented them all!

She managed to keep from crying, but barely. Jonathan seemed about to do something rash, despite his lack of a weapon. Instead he turned to her, and she could not, would not meet hiseyes. "Mina…Mina, come here…don't be afraid, I won't let him hurt you anymore…"

But _he _spoke then, before she could, and his voice was so cold…as cold as the hand that held hers. "She's staying with me."

Jonathan looked shocked for a moment, but then he nearly screamed at Vlad. "Monster! You won't do this to her!" And he grabbed Lord Godalming's pistol, aiming it at Vlad.

He merely laughed. "You foolish mortal weapons will do nothing to me. And besides, Mina _wishes_ to stay with me. Do you not, my dear?"

She looked at them both, hating each of them separately for that one instant. She managed to whisper one world. "Yes."

She knew at that moment that she had destroyed Jonathan. He turned away, not looking at her. His voice was choked as he told the others. "We must leave now…we have no chance of winning like this. We can return…during the day."

It seemed as though Quincy would protest, but even he saw Jonathan's pain, and they left, leaving her alone with Vlad again.

She found herself trying not to cry. She had hurt Jonathan, Jonathan who she had married, who she had thought that she loved…but it seemed now that she did not. Was her heart so easily swayed that her vows to love someone forever could be forgotten in a moment?

And then she felt Vlad's arms around her, and she could finally cry. But even then, she had to wonder why she felt so comfortable around him, why she could cry in his arms, why she should _love _him.

But the fact was that she did.

"This isn't any way to begin this." She whispered, hardly able to speak louder than that.

His voice was no louder than hers, but it was gentler than it had been when Jonathan was there, and it again seemed sinuous, "After two hundred years you'll forget it."

This statement shocked her, partly because she had not been thinking about two hundred years from now, had not been thinking about the possibility – no, the certainty, now, that she would live that long…but then he kissed her.

She realized at that moment that he had never kissed her before. He had taken her blood, and given her his, but he had not kissed her.

And she found herself kissing him back.

She felt shocked for an instant at her own lack of modesty, before she remembered that she was his now, that she was staying with him, that he was her husband now. And she found herself letting her senses take over, and deepening their kiss eagerly…He was the one who finally broke it.

"My dear, do you wish to become as I am tonight?"

She paused, considering whether or not she wished to give up her humanity so soon….but better to destroy any thoughts of her old life first, and then enter into this one. She nodded.

He smiled, and kissed her again, more lightly. "Come, love."

He took her hand and led her to another room, this time a bedroom. She shivered slightly at his touch as he moved her hair to one side of her neck, and kissed her neck before biting her…for the fourth time, she vaguely remembered, the swoon of blood loss taking over. For a moment she understood completely why she loved him, and didn't care about whether this was right or not…

As he drained the last of her blood, he lifted her and carried her to the bed, knowing that when she did awake, it would be as an immortal, as he was.


End file.
